Artists Resale Right

DEALERS from all over Europe have launched a campaign to get rid of the resale right enjoyed by the heirs of dead artists.

NEW guidelines limiting the types of print that can attract the Artist’s Resale Right have come into force. They restrict qualifying works to those where the artist has been directly involved in preparing the matrix – the inked surface used in printing.

THE Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS) has made its second Droit de Suite pay-out to artists. It means that the collecting agency has now distributed over £65,000 since the resale levy was implemented in February. More than 140 artists have now received payments from DACS.

THE Design and Artist's Copyright Society (DACS) have made their first pay-outs to artists for the Droit de Suite resale levy.

AUSTRALIA have rejected Droit de Suite.

THE launch of a new collecting agency for the artist’s resale levy has broken the monopoly of The Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS). The Bridgeman Art Library, one of the world’s leading sources of fine art images, told ATG that they have set up a new company called Artists’ Collecting Society (ACS) to collect the levy on behalf of artists in the UK.

MORE details have been emerging as to exactly how dealers will have to meet their obligations under the droit de suite directive.

DROIT de Suite, the much-dreaded Artist’s Resale Right, faced an early test at a Godalming picture sale last week, and slipped into the world of UK provincial auctions with barely a murmur.

Droit de Suite, the Artist’s Resale Right, finally came into force on February 14. It means that, subject to certain conditions, living artists are entitled to receive a royalty each time their art work is bought and sold via an art market professional.

Droit de Suite, the long-awaited Artist's Resale Right, comes into force today, February 14. It means that, subject to certain conditions, living artists are entitled to receive a royalty each time their art work is bought and sold via an art market professional.

UK Government will campaign to exclude artists’ heirs permanently

...and I’ll fight it in the courts if I have to

Who has the resale right? The artist holding copyright of their work or a qualifying body to whom they have assigned the right under the regulations, such as a charity. Until January 1, 2010, the right only applies if the artist is living.

MONTHS of lobbying and debate over droit de suite have now come to an an end. Parties on all sides have submitted their views to the Patent Office on how the art resale levy should be introduced into the UK and administered.

The Conservatives have vowed to fight Droit de Suite in their election manifesto. “Conservatives believe the Artist’s Resale Right will be highly detrimental to the British art market, and will benefit competitors outside the EU,” the manifesto reads.

A GROUND-BREAKING study into the likely effects of a new levy on art shows it could seriously damage the UK market and cost jobs.

THE British Art Market Federation has expressed disappointment as the European Parliament is seeking to reverse special provisions for the UK concerning droit de suite, the artists’ resale levy.

SEVENTY-FIVE leading contemporary artists have lent their names to a poster campaign against droit de suite, claiming that the currrent EU directive on artists’ resale right deprives them of their right to freedom of choice.

ANTHONY Browne, chairman of the British Art Federation, has just led a delegation of art dealers to Strasbourg to lobby the European Parliament further on the artists’ resale levy, droit de suite.

EU: THE British Art Market Federation wants the European Union to abandon its bid to impose the artists’ resale rights on the UK after member states again failed to vote on the measure on Thursday.